The New VAR That Old VARs Love To Hate

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

How Dave Iava got Plymouth Rock Merchant Services off to a blazing start, and why his kind is making old-school VARs so nervous

Three years ago, Dave Iava was running a small fitness franchise. Today he’s president of Plymouth Rock Merchant Services, a POS VAR. He’s successfully selling a product that’s been maligned by many in the channel, in part because it’s “free” and in part because of its rabid embrace by a retail and restaurant market that’s hungry for POS. What money Iava isn’t making on the sale of POS hardware, he’s making up for in virtual perpetuity on payment processing residuals.

Now, before you third-generation POS VARs guffaw at the man’s credibility, and lest you write him off as another flash-in-the-pan greenhorn to the channel, give credence to Iava’s backstory. The man has a degree in international business from UConn. He taught college-level networking. Before he went into the fitness business and before he became a retail technology reseller, he worked in high tech for Cellular One. The guy’s got some tech chops. In fact, it was his dissatisfaction with the merchant processing product in play at his gym business that led to his revelation that there was a better way, an underserved market, and a lucrative business opportunity.